Concurrent Session

Robert Massa is the Managing Director of Retirement in Houston, TX for Qualified Plan Advisors (QPA). Rob is a retirement professional with more than 25 years of retirement industry experience. His primary responsibilities include practice management, strategic investment direction and advice, retirement plan design consulting and compliance, employee education and development, financial wellness strategies, client relationship management and SEC compliance. His career has been focused in the investment management and administration of qualified retirement plans in a diverse series of roles including investment advice, trust administration, recordkeeping, plan document drafting, compliance testing, product management, legal and client consultation.

As SHRM’s Director of Certification and Veteran Affairs Andrew Morton works with the military and veterans' organizations to develop workforce readiness pathways for veterans and military-families. As part of SHRM’s Speaker’s Bureau Andrew informs and empowers organizations in their inclusion-hiring efforts across many populations including Veterans, individuals with disabilities, and Returning Citizens as part of SHRM’s Getting Talent Back to Work Initiative.  He is the contributing author to Justin Constantine’s SHRM published book “From We Will to At Will- A Handbook for Veteran Hiring, Transitioning and Thriving in Today’s Workplace.” 

Andrew, a retired Infantry-Officer, served in several leadership roles during multiple overseas and combat tours (Iraq, Bosnia, Macedonia and Egypt) in his 21-year Army career. He also served as the Chief of Marketing and Advertising for the Army Reserve.   Prior to his arrival at SHRM in 2014 Andrew previously served as public relations director for a PR firm in Alexandria. 

Andrew is passionate about awareness and resources in support of mental health within our workforce and society at large and is currently completely his Masters in Mental Health Counseling at the College of William and Mary.       

Dr. Smith is a respected practitioner of I-O psychology with over 20 years of experience in HR research and consulting. His primary areas of expertise involve strategic research approaches, test development and validation, individual assessment, and management development. Throughout his career, he has worked with all levels of employees (from hourly rate to executive level). He joined SHRM in 2018 after spending most of his career in consulting roles. At SHRM, he spent three years as Director of Exam Development for certification and more recently became Director of HR Thought Leadership for the research group.

Mark holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of South Florida. He has authored professional publications and presented numerous papers and symposia at numerous professional meetings. He is a member of the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology (SIOP), and he has also served as President, Treasurer and Board Member of the Houston Association for I-O Psychology.

Adam Rosenthal is an employment attorney and Partner at Sheppard Mullin based in California.  Adam represents a broad spectrum of companies before federal and state courts and arbitration forums.  In addition to his single plaintiff and class action litigation practice, Adam advises clients throughout the country on compliance matters.  Adam is one of the few attorneys on the SHRM Speakers Bureau.  This is the third year in a row Adam has been invited to lecture at the SHRM Annual Conference.  Adam is also the author of Managing Employees Without Fear: How to Follow the Law, Build a Positive Work Culture, and Avoid Getting Sued.  Adam received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his law degree from UC Davis.

Adam Rosenthal is an employment attorney and Partner at Sheppard Mullin based in California.  Adam represents a broad spectrum of companies before federal and state courts and arbitration forums.  In addition to his single plaintiff and class action litigation practice, Adam advises clients throughout the country on compliance matters.  Adam is one of the few attorneys on the SHRM Speakers Bureau.  This is the third year in a row Adam has been invited to lecture at the SHRM Annual Conference.  Adam is also the author of Managing Employees Without Fear: How to Follow the Law, Build a Positive Work Culture, and Avoid Getting Sued.  Adam received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his law degree from UC Davis.

Kevin M. Coleman is the Founder of KMC Empowerment, LLC where he provides executive coaching, empowering speeches, and professional development training to make individuals and organizations successful.  This is done through inspiring leaders to define clear vision, mission, and value systems that leads to exponential personal, professional, and business growth.  Kevin has vast experience in leading training for Entrepreneurs, Executives, Division Chiefs, Branch Chiefs, Mid-Level Managers, Supervisors, and Team Leads for over 35 years.  Kevin has demonstrated experience speaking for all audiences from three (4) to three thousand (4,000).  In addition, Kevin is a United States Army disabled veteran.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Brenda S. Kasper is a founding member of Kasper & Frank LLP, a law firm representing California and multi-state employers for all of their human resources and employment law needs.  She regularly advises employers of all sizes on wage and hour compliance, leaves of absence, disability accommodation, reductions in force, terminations and discipline management, employment contracts, personnel policies, and hiring issues.  She also provides management and human resources training.  Brenda is a former HR director so her legal advice is practical, creative and tailored to each client’s needs.  She was the 2015 San Diego SHRM Board President, is an instructor for the HR Certification program at the University of California San Diego Extension and holds her SHRM-SCP and SPHR-California certifications.